(FIG. 10-39), the Virgin Mary and Saint John
appear on either side of the crucified Christ.
God the Father emerges from behind
Christ, supporting the arms of the cross and
presenting his Son to the worshiper as a de-
votional object. The dove of the Holy Spirit
hovers between God’s head and Christ’s
head. Masaccio also included portraits of
the donors of the painting, Lorenzo Lenzi
and his wife, who kneel just in front of the
pilastersthat frame the chapel’s entrance.
Below, the artist painted a tomb containing
a skeleton. An inscription in Italian painted above the skeleton re-
minds the spectator that “I was once what you are, and what I am you
will become.”
The illusionism ofHoly Trinityis breathtaking. In this fresco,
Masaccio brilliantly demonstrated the principles and potential of
Brunelleschi’s new science of perspective. Indeed, some historians
have suggested Brunelleschi may have collaborated with Masaccio.
The vanishing point of the composition is at the foot of the cross.
With this point at eye level, spectators look up at the Trinity and
down at the tomb. About five feet above the floor level, the vanishing
point pulls the two views together, creating the illusion of an actual
structure that transects the wall’s vertical plane. Whereas the tomb
appears to project forward into the church, the chapel recedes visu-
ally behind the wall and appears as an extension of the spectator’s
space. This adjustment of the pictured space to the viewer’s position
was an important innovation in illusionistic painting that other
artists of the Renaissance and the later Baroque period would de-
velop further. Masaccio was so exact in his metrical proportions that
it is possible to calculate the dimensions of the chapel (for example,
the span of the painted vault is seven feet and the depth of the chapel
is nine feet). Thus, he achieved not only a successful illusion but also
a rational measured coherence that is responsible for the unity and
harmony of the fresco.Holy Trinityis, however, much more than a
demonstration of Brunelleschi’s perspective or of the painter’s abil-
ity to represent fully modeled figures bathed in light. In this paint-
ing, Masaccio also powerfully conveyed one of the central tenets of
Christian faith. The ascending pyramid of figures leads viewers from
the despair of death to the hope of resurrection and eternal life
through Christ’s crucifixion.
FRA ANGELICOAs Masaccio’s Holy Trinity clearly demon-
strates, humanism and religion were not mutually exclusive, but for
many 15th-century Italian artists, humanist concerns were not a pri-
mary consideration. The art ofFra Angelico(ca. 1400–1455) fo-
cused on serving the Roman Catholic Church. In the late 1430s, the
abbot of the Dominican monastery of San Marco (Saint Mark) in
Florence asked Fra Angelico to produce a series of frescoes for the
monastery. The Dominicans (see “The Great Schism,” Chapter 19,
page 501) of San Marco had dedicated themselves to lives of prayer
and work, and the religious compound was mostly spare and austere
to encourage the monks to immerse themselves in their devotional
lives. Fra Angelico’s Annunciation (FIG. 21-21) appears at the top of
the stairs leading to the friars’ cells. Appropriately, Fra Angelico pre-
sented the scene of the Virgin Mary and the Archangel Gabriel with
simplicity and serenity. The two figures appear in a plain loggia
resembling San Marco’s portico,and the artist painted all the fresco
elements with a pristine clarity. As an admonition to heed the de-
votional function of the images, Fra Angelico included a small in-
scription at the base of the image: “As you venerate, while passing
before it, this figure of the intact Virgin, beware lest you omit to say
a Hail Mary.” Like most of Fra Angelico’s paintings,Annunciation’s
simplicity and directness still have an almost universal appeal and
fully reflect the artist’s simple, humble character.ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO Like Fra Angelico,Andrea del
Castagno(ca. 1421–1457) accepted a commission to produce a
series of frescoes for a religious establishment. His Last Supper (FIG.
21-22) in the refectory (dining hall) of Sant’Apollonia in Florence,
a convent for Benedictine nuns, manifests both a commitment to the
biblical narrative and an interest in perspective. The lavishly painted
room that Christ and his 12 disciples occupy suggests Castagno’s ab-
sorption with creating the illusion of three-dimensional space.
However, close scrutiny reveals inconsistencies, such as the fact that
Renaissance perspectival systems make it impossible to see both the
ceiling from inside and the roof from outside, as Castagno depicted.
The two side walls also do not appear parallel. The artist chose a
conventional compositional format, with the figures seated at a hor-
izontally placed table. Castagno derived the apparent self-absorption
of most of the disciples and the malevolent features of Judas (who
sits alone on the outside of the table) from the Gospel of Saint John,
rather than the more familiar version of the Last Supper recounted
in the Gospel of Saint Luke. Castagno’s dramatic and spatially con-
vincing depiction of the event no doubt was a powerful presence for
the nuns during their daily meals.FRA FILIPPO LIPPIA younger contemporary of Fra Angelico,
Fra Filippo Lippi(ca. 1406–1469), was also a friar—but there all
resemblance ends. Fra Filippo seems to have been unsuited for556 Chapter 21 ITALY,1400 TO 150021-21Fra Angelico,Annunciation,
San Marco, Florence, Italy, ca. 1438–1447.
Fresco, 7 1 10 6 .
Painted for the Dominican monks of San
Marco, Fra Angelico’s fresco is simple and
direct. Its figures and architecture have a
pristine clarity that befits the fresco’s
function as a devotional image.
1 ft.